Meteorological Factors and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Backdrop of Pakistan

Muhammad Riaz; Muhammad Nadeem Akhtar; Shu Jinghong; Habib Gul

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.764016

Meteorological Factors and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Backdrop of Pakistan

Front Psychol. 2021 Nov 25:12:764016. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.764016. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Muhammad Riaz¹, Muhammad Nadeem Akhtar¹, Shu Jinghong¹, Habib Gul²

Affiliations

¹ School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China.
² Department of Business Administration, Kardan University, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Abstract

Coronavirus victims have been confirmed all around the world and millions of people are being put into self-isolation. In this backdrop, a superior appreciation of the effective parameters in epidemic spreading can cause a cogent assessment toward COVID-19. In this vein, the consequences of weather indicators on the spread of COVID-19 can play an instrumental role in the current coronavirus situation enveloping the world. These elements entail time, maximum and minimum temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rainfall. By such an incorporation, their consequent effects on coronavirus in Pakistan are explored. In the current study, principal elements are considered including the number of infected patients with coronavirus in Pakistan. The autoregressive distribution lag (ARDL) approach is used to analyze the effects and relationships of variables with the COVID-19 expansion rate extracting data from April 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021. The results revealed that maximum and minimum temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rainfall had a significant positive correlation with total and confirmed cases of COVID-19. Lastly, this brief communication attempts to clarify the outbreak of coronavirus in the region.

Keywords: ARDL; COVID-19; Pakistan; indicators; weather.